It’s hard to read your own writing critically, but it’s something you’ll have to do. One way to make it easier is to read your work out loud. This has two advantages. First, it slows you down. You can’t skim over text as quickly when you have to speak the words, and this makes it …

If you’re doing a PhD, it’s quite likely that you did well at all the previous levels of the education system. But a PhD is a completely different challenge requiring completely different skills. This means that many PhD students find themselves struggling for the first time in their academic lives. Whereas an undergraduate degree, generally, …

I don’t want to be a an academic, but I feel like a PhD will help complete my education… Here’s the problem; there’s no such thing as a complete education, as long as you have a desire to learn. A PhD is not the final destination. It’s just one step on one possible path of …

No, I’m not talking about the whole PhD. I’m talking about the small tasks that make up the whole. There’s always pressure to do more. Start the next thing. Follow up on the latest idea. But every time we take on something new, it takes attention and energy away from the other things you’ve started. …

Set a timer for 25 minutes. Work on just one thing for those 25 minutes, then take a 5 minute break. After 4 rounds, take a longer break. When I first tried the pomodoro technique back in 2010, I loved it for its simplicity and effectiveness. Since then, I’ve often used timers to help myself …

Do you have any tips for part-time PhD students? If you’re doing a PhD part-time, the tips I’d give depend very much on what you’re doing with the other part of your time. If you have a part-time job with predictable hours, it’s easier to manage the two demands than if you’re running your own …

A PhD is a marathon, not a sprint. Or so they say, anyway. Actually, the marathon part of your PhD is your thesis defence; a difficult and exhausting-but ultimately rewarding-challenge that lasts a few hours. The rest of it is training. The result of your PhD marathon (and the amount of pain or elation you …

We all know that reading the literature is essential, but it’s not enough to just sit and read a stack of articles. Reading journal articles is a skill and, like any other skill, how you approach it makes a big difference. So it’s not just a question of how to read a journal article, but …